Book Review – Star Trek: No Time Like the Past

Things are going bad for Captain Kirk. He’s already had one security office vaporized, red shirt and all. Now he’s caught dead to rights by a traitor on a diplomatic mission, a rifle aimed right at him. But salvation comes from an unusual source: a woman with implants on her face takes deadly accurate aim and fries his opponent.

From Seven of Nine’s perspective, things are equally puzzling. One moment she was on a planet in the Delta Quadrant trying to save some fallen shipmates, the next moment she’s on a completely different planet, trying to save an officer in an outmoded Starfleet uniform. What possible explanation could there be?

I don’t normally read Star Trek books, ironically, because of the advantage books have over television or movies. With books, we can delve into what a character is thinking or feeling, rather than just guessing from the facial expression on a big or little screen. The problem is, the characters in the Star Trek books often think or feel differently from the way I expect.

But this novel by the highly prolific writer Greg Cox worked just fine. The coolly detached Seven of Nine was somehow a good fit with the “riding shotgun” style of the old Star Trek. Oddly enough, the best scenes involved Seven and the highly emotional Mister Scott, as they crawled through access tubes, hid underwater, and got in firefights. I’m sure Scotty is the only person to address Seven as “Lass.”

So this is a fun romp for people who like the old Star Trek, or Star Trek: Voyager, or both. Keep in mind, it’s mostly set in the old Star Trek universe.